Zaposa.com is the personal domain of Eleanor C Sayre.  "Zaposa" is an easily pronounced short non-word. There are no formal definitions for zaposa because I made it up. Creative readers are encouraged to send me definitions like the one above.  You can reach me by email at le@zaposa.com.  There are more contact details on my curriculum vitae.  My schedule is available here.

I am a physics faculty member at Wabash College. I study physics, cognition, and physics cognition. My MS in Teaching thesis is about how senior physics majors and first year physics graduate students think in novel physics situations. My PhD in Physics dissertation is about conflicts between physics and mathematics intuitions in intermediate mechanics students. My current research projects are fundamental research into student understanding of physics: What do students know? When do they learn it? What underlying cognitive mechanisms drive physics understanding?  How do students develop their mathematics skills in a physics context?  From this necessary (and heretofore lacking) basic research comes ideas about how to change student ideas and behaviors -- teaching and curriculum with a solid theoretical and experimental basis. 

I graduated from the University of Maine with a PhD in 2007 and a MST in 2005, from Grinnell College with a BA in 2002, and from Falmouth Academy in 1998. For more professional details, my CV (with links to selected publications) is here,  or here in pdf (without links). 

In my spare time, I enjoy knitting, gaming, and parenting. I contribute to several blogs, including the PER Jobs blog for job posts in Physics Education Research. If you knit, you may enjoy my knitting patterns found on this server: El Cardi, Leafy Lace Socks, and Simplest Socks. If you are an academic, you may enjoy some of my advice for job talks.